I blogged a couple of weeks ago about CYMFed and how having asked them for the names of their board members I had left it a week and got no response.

Since then, David Beresford has come back to me to say that he's been busy but he's happy to provide the names of the CYMFed board...

The CYMFed board is not a secret or a mystery.

The chair is Fr Dominic Howarth, (Brentwood)

The vice chair is Danny Curtin, (YCW)

As Chair of CAYMA, I am also on the board

Other members are Johnny Toryusen (Southwark), Fr Dermott Donnelly (Hexham and Newcastle), Rachel Romain (Bishops Conference), Mrg Andrew Faley (Bishops Conference), Becky Barber (Plymouth), Fr Martin Donnelly (Cardiff), Fr Michael White (Birmingham).

As I remember the board was made up to best cover the geographic spread of our church and the diversity of the organisations.

More recently I received an email from Fr Dominic Howarth the chair of CYMFed, he asked me to publish it in full by way of a clarification and I am happy to do so (probably something to do with how unkind I am)...

Dear James,

I write to you as chair of CYMFed. I wish that you had emailed directly before posting about us – it would have been easy to have allayed your concerns.

I attach a list of members, current as at autumn 2009. As you will see, there is a representative from every Diocese, and from many Movements, Organisations and Religious Orders: numbers are growing as those we are not yet in touch with contact us to become members as word of CYMFed spreads. Far from being “shadowy” we are completely open, and we hope that everyone working in Youth Ministry will have a way into CYMFed through their local Diocese, or through the particular Movement, Organisation or Religious Order of which they are part.

Your fellow blogger who has written about the absence within CYMFed of the characteristics of religious movements is entirely correct, for the simple reason that CYMFed is not, in itself, a Movement. We bring together a wide range of charisms, to share good practice and develop national opportunities such as the Congress.

CYMFed members are all volunteers, doing what we do nationally as we have a shared passion for Youth Ministry and believe that a national conversation can bear great fruit. In addition to the Congress we are also developing an online training programme for those working in parishes. We can only do such things by working together. I do appreciate that our website, www.cymfed.org, needs more updating: those running the site are doing so in amongst busy and pressured roles. Just to get the Congress publicity up and running was a huge task, and was our priority in recent weeks.

The existence of CYMFed is fully endorsed by the Bishops because they see the value of what we are doing. In case you have not yet seen it, I am pleased to provide you with the Press Release produced by Bishops’ Conference following their November meeting, and quoted at the end of this email.

I hope that this is now sufficient information for you. I am sorry that as I am Diocesan Youth Chaplain, Chair of CYMFed, and work in a parish with three churches, four schools and a hospital for which I share a 24 hour on call pager, I cannot enter into significant correspondence on this blog. I hope that the fruits of CYMFed will speak for themselves in the weeks and months ahead and I encourage you and all those with a passion for Youth Ministry to come to the Congress in February.

Yours with prayers

Fr Dominic Howarth, MA, STL (Rome)

This is the press release that Fr Dominic included...

Press Release

For immediate release – 22 November 2009

New Youth Advisory Body commended by Bishops

A new youth advisory body has been set up to “form and serve the Catholic Youth Ministry community in England and Wales.” The Catholic Youth ministry Federation (CYMFed) brings together Youth Service Directors, representatives from New Movements, Organisations and Religious Orders working nationally with young people, and Bishop Kieran Conry in his capacity as Bishop for Youth.

It was endorsed by the Bishops’ Conference at their Low Week Meeting in April 2009 and has now become an integral part of the Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis. At the recent November meeting of the Bishops of England and Wales, CYMFed was commended for their work to date.

Chair of CYMFed and Chaplain to the Brentwood Catholic Youth Service, Fr Dominic Howarth said: “The wisdom and expertise gathered around the table at full CYMFed meetings is priceless. There are people working in urban and rural settings, and people with particular charisms from Orders like the Salesians and Movements like YCW and Youth 2000. The level and depth of people’s knowledge, coupled with the shared desire to move Catholic Youth Ministry forward in strong and purposeful ways, makes CYMFed a pleasure to be part of, and time well spent. CYMFed provides the opportunity to share good practice, fresh ideas, friendship and support, and there are also things that are possible when the whole Catholic Youth Ministry community work together that we cannot achieve alone.”

Bishop Kieran Conry said: “CYMFed is a great initiative, which the Bishops are very pleased to support. Working with CYMFed it is easy to see the hope, dynamism and purpose that are present in what we are offering for young people within the Church. Having CYMFed as our key advisers in this area means that the Bishops are directly in touch with those working with young people across the country, and this is an invaluable resource for us.”

CYMFed has already attracted a £9,000 grant to develop an online training programme for those working with young people at Parish, Deanery or Diocesan level in partnership with Ushaw College. The course will be modular, very accessible, and it is hoped launched in September 2010.

The new youth advisory body has also attracted internationally acclaimed speakers for the first Congress for Catholics working with young people, set to take place on February 27th 2010. “We have set our hope on the living God” will be headlined by Fr Timothy Radcliffe, Abbot Christopher Jamison, Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Bob and Maggie McCarty. The McCartys have worked in Catholic Youth Ministry in America for over 25 years and Bob is President of the American equivalent of CYMFed, working with over 170 American Dioceses.

END

Finally, Fr Howarth provided a list of the full CYMFed membership...

Bishop for Youth Rt Rev Kieran Conry
Arundel & Brighton Ray Mooney
Birmingham Fr Michael White*
Brentwood Fr Dominic Howarth*
Cardiff Fr Martin Donnelly*
East Anglia Hamish MacQueen
Hallam Judi Shimmell
Hexham & Newcastle Fr Dermott Donnelly*
Lancaster Ruth Corless
Leeds Anna Cowell
Liverpool Fr Stephen Pritchard
Menevia Fr Ceirion Gilbert
Middlesbrough Fiona Moffat
Northampton Avril Baigent
Nottingham Fr Joe Wheat
Plymouth Rebecca Barber
Portsmouth Dave Hill
Salford Lorraine Leonard
Shrewsbury Dave Fitton
Southwark John Toryusen*
Westminster Dave Burke
Wrexham Angela Gregory
Residential Retreat Centres John Toryusen*
CAYMA Chair Rebecca Barber*
British Jesuits Fr Dave Stewart
CAFOD Monica Conmee
Pax Christi To be advised
Salesians Fr Bob Gardner
Sion Community To be advised
YCW Danny Curtin*
Youth 2000 Hannah Vaughan-Spruce
Youth SVP Awaiting appointment
Bishops’ Conference Rachel Romain

The people with * are the board members:

Rt Rev Kieran Conry Bishop for Youth, ex officio
Fr Dominic Howarth Chair Province of Westminster
Danny Curtin Vice Chair Organisations and Movements
Rebecca Barber Secretary CAYMA Chair
John Toryusen Treasurer Province of Southwark & Residential Retreat Centres
Fr Michael White Board Member Province of Birmingham
Fr Dermott Donnelly Board Member Province of Liverpool
Fr Martin Donnelly Board Member Province of Cardiff
Rachel Romain Bishops’ Conference Youth Ministry Administrator, ex officio

I'll leave it there for now. The fact that we didn't even know the names of the CYMFed board was only one of my concerns and I have made Fr Howarth aware of the others.

I think in the interests of fair play I should give him a bit longer to respond before I blog about those.

Please note: The information in this blog entry is out of date. CYMFed have now released the names of their board members, information on this can be found here.

You may recall my previous blog entries on the subject of CYMFed. The Catholic Youth Ministry Federation, which seems to have all the power and authority of the Bishop's conference (able to put a poster in every parish Church and get Archbiship Vincent Nichols along to their conference) without any of the responsibility.

These people are shaping the direction of Catholic youth ministry in this country and we don't even know who they are. According to their website...

The Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed) seeks to help shape and support Catholic Youth Ministry in England

...

CYMFed currently brings together 32 stakeholders - Dioceses and Catholic organisations working with young people in England and Wales. Within this federation there are numerous staff and volunteers, between them working with over 30,000 yong people each year.

...

CYMFed’s organisation is run by the principle officers of each diocese and organisation, who meet three times a year, and the Board which meets regularly. Bringing together the ‘on the ground’ practitioners of those working with young people in a Catholic context, CYMFed is the single most experienced and qualified body in the UK to hold, protect and further the vision of youth ministry.

[link]

So who wields this immense power and influence? Who makes the decisions about the furthering the vision of youth ministry?

I'm grateful to David Beresford for leaving a comment on this blog offering to answer any questions I might have about CYMFed. I sent him a list of fifteen questions, two of which were:

- Who sits on the CYMFed board? What are their roles?
- Who decides who sits on the CYMFed board?

Remember, if you want to know the same information about CAFOD you can find it here and for CES you can find it here. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask who sits on the board of an organisation that works with over 30,000 young people every year!

David sent me quite a long email in response (I did ask fifteen questions!) but the only thing he said regarding the questions above was this...

Far from being in any way “anonymous” or “shadowy” this membership already engages every Diocese, and every Religious Order, Movement and Organisation working with young people nationally. These members – working with CBCEW – are the ones drawing up the documents to shape the strategy for Youth Ministry nationally, and this is therefore absolutely inclusive and transparent.

I responded...

It's difficult not to see CYMFed as anonymous and shadowy when I still don't know a single name (apart from yourself) of a person on the CYMFed board and I don't know who appoints people to the CYMFed board. If I don't know (and I have done as much as anybody might reasonable do to find out) then nobody knows outside of those who are on the inside. I've asked and you haven't told me. Is it a secret?

...

I'm not opposed to an organisation like CYMFed existing, I just think it ought to be truly open and accountable so that people like myself can keep an eye on it's activities and sound the alarm if we think there's something not right.

No response.

I'm a fair man, so before blogging about it I sent this...

Hi David,

Can you confirm that you won't be sharing the names of the CYMFed board members?

James

That was a more than a week ago and still no response.

I'm discouraged and alarmed at the same time. University Catholic Societies will tell you who sits on the commitee and they don't wield anywhere near so much influence.

Why would people running an organisation like CYMFed hide in the shadows?

Joe at Catholic Commentary has this to say about the new Catholic Youth Ministry Federation...

Yes, there is a nice acronym. Yes, there appears to be a launch congress. But no, there is no sign of a patron saint, no sign of what are characteristic features of the new movements, Eucharistic and Marian devotion. Look at their six objectives - and, since it doesn't seem to have properly formed or launched yet, the claim to be "the single most experienced and qualified body in the UK to hold, protect and further the vision of youth ministry" seems fanciful.

[link]

No sign of a patron saint.

No sign of Eucharistic and Marian devotion.

Not properly launched yet, but have already found the cash to fly speakers over from the United States to a "congress" to which they have also managed to attract Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

Where is the money coming from?

Who is pulling the strings?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "quango" as follows...

quango

noun (pl. quangos) Brit., chiefly derogatory a semi-public administrative body with financial support from and senior appointments made by the government.

— ORIGIN acronym from quasi (or quasi-autonomous) non-governmental organization.

[link]

There is something distinctly dishonest about quangos. The government love them because they allow them to wield power and authority without messy little details like responsibility.

They are funded (at least in part) by the government which places them at least partly under government control and when it suits them they tend to carry the weight governmental authority, although when it suits them they are distanced. So one week Gordon Brown will be proudly bragging about the billions he has sunk in to youth development projects and the next week he will be saying that something wasn't his fault, it was those pesky folk at the independent commision for something-or-other.

I bring this up because while everybody has been all distracted with the visit of the Relics of St Therese, I've noticed the discreet birth of a quango for Catholic youth work in England and Wales.

The official Catholic Bishop's Conference agency for Catholic youth work was Catholic Youth Services until it was quietly dismantled under mysterious circumstances last november. At that time we were told that "research is to be carried out to determine the current provision for youth ministry within the Dioceses, and directions for further development" and that "This work will be carried out by an Interim Youth Ministry Co-ordinator under the supervision of Bishop Kieran Conry, within the Bishops' Department of Evangelisation and Catechesis"

So for the time being, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales has no official agency for Youth Work.

Sort of...

This is where the quasi part kicks in...

The Catholic Youth Ministry Federation. Very official sounding don't you think? Read the blurb on their website...

The Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed) exists to help shape and support Catholic Youth Ministry in England and Wales.

CYMFed is made up of 32 Dioceses and Catholic organisations working with young people in England and Wales. Within this federation there are numerous staff and volunteers - the ‘on the ground’ practitioners of youth ministry - who work with over 30,000 young people each year.

CYMFed is recognised and supported by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales.

I always thought that the Bishops Conference is the Dioceses of England and Wales coming together but, oh, silly me. Apparently when individual Dioceses pay people and those people come together "recognised and supported by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales" that's something different and it's definitely not an agency of the Bishop's Conference.

A very cosy arrangement...

Elsewhere the CYMFed website reads...

CYMFed’s organisation is run by the principle officers of each diocese and organisation, who meet three times a year, and the Board which meets regularly. Bringing together the ‘on the ground’ practitioners of those working with young people in a Catholic context, CYMFed is the single most experienced and qualified body in the UK to hold, protect and further the vision of youth ministry.

So the usual suspects wander around playing the "supported by the Bishop's Conference card" which they will use to great effect to get all the sisters and brothers to come along and then when they get carried away and do something outrageous and people write to the Vatican the Bishop's Conference can say "Not me guvner".

Like I said, there's something distinctly dishonest about a quango. It's not an agency of the Bishop's conference but it sort of is, depending on what is convenient at the time.

They are organising a conference, sorry, a "National Congress for Catholics working with young people" this February. I wouldn't want you to think it's got anything to do with the Bishop's Conference of course, but Archbishop Vincent Nichols will be there.

What could possibly be wrong with something Archbishop Vincent Nichols supports?